•                             Mr. Rooney's

     words to live by

    “It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living:
    I want to know what you ache for.
    It doesn’t interest me how old you are;
    I want to know if you can risk looking like a fool for love,
    for your dreams, and for the adventure of being alive.
     It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have;
    I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair
    and do what needs to be done for someone you love…
    People say ‘What is the meaning of life?’
    The meaning of life is to live life; the meaning of life is life…
    Live more than your neighbors. Unleash yourself and go places.
    Go now. Giggle, laugh, and bark at the moon like the wild dog that you are.
    Understand that this is not a dress rehearsal, this is it: your life.
    Face your fears and live your dreams; take it all in, every chance that you get.”
     
     --John Blais prior to living his dream: completing an Ironman in 2005
    after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a terminal muscle-wasting illness. Life expectancy after the diagnosis was two years. The disease took away his ability to walk shortly after the race; he lived in a wheelchair until he died in 2007. He is the first person with ALS to ever attempt the Hawaii Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26. 2 mile run), let alone finish it.
     
     

    “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
    --T. Roosevelt, 1910

    "If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do."
    --Warren Miller

    "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Leave the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover."
    --Mark Twain

    "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security , conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within man than a secure future." -Christopher McCandless

    "If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page"-Mark Houlahan

    "There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn't the end of the world, it's the beginning of a new life"-Unknown
    I am a Pebble.

    One pebble -
    ripples fade as they move to shore
    Two pebbles -
    ripples intersect and flow some more
    Three pebbles -
    can begin to make a wave
    Many pebbles -
    churn the water, change the shape of the pond.

    Be a pebble in the water
    move the water
    and don't let the water
    change you.
    -- Antoinette Sedillo Lopez
     
    We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
    -Martin Luther King Jr.

    “If you're going to be passionate about something, be passionate about learning. If you're going to fight something, fight for those in need. If you're going to question something, question authority. If you're going to lose something lose your inhibitions. If you're going to gain something , gain respect and confidence. And if you're going to hate something, hate the false idea that you are not capable of your dreams.You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you." -Daniel Olston

    “At the end of your life you won't be saying ‘I just wish I’d spent more time sitting on my butt watching TV’.”

    "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."